One, Two, Tie My Shoe
by whitelilies
Summary: [Prequel to O.T.T.D.W.A.M./one-shot] Guilt was such a terrible feeling, as Sakuno realizes when knocks Niou down the stairs. To alleviate the shame for injuring a tennis regular, she becomes his little helper.


**Disclaimer:** I do not own Prince of Tennis or any of its characters.

**A/N**: This is a prequel to my other story, 'One, Two, Thee, Don't walk away from me'. Its purpose is to provide a stronger background of the events which occur and an explain why Niou & Sakuno's relationship is so strained. Cheers!

* * *

At sixteen years of age, Sakuno understood she needed to be calm at all times. It didn't matter if something tremendously excited or saddened her. She must always stay rational, quiet and collected.

Even if she did place a spot as a regular on the tennis team in her first year of high school, Sakuno had to contain her happiness. If not, then there would be more people falling down the extremely long and steep flight of stairs which would then result in a fractured or broken leg.

Seriously.

Her delight at being chosen as a regular vanished at an alarming pace when she realized she had knocked Niou Masaharu, one of the best tennis players in their high school, down the longest flight of stairs in their high school.

He wasn't happy.

His friends, who she recognized as Yanagi and Yagyuu, had rushed him to infirmary with Sakuno following close behind. Currently in the hallway, the two older students were patiently waiting for the results while she paced anxiously.

Occasionally, Yanagi would attempt to say something comforting to the younger girl but his efforts were unnoticed. She was too apprehensive at what she had done.

Finally the door opened and the nurse exited with a sour look.

"Seems like a broken leg but I'm not sure. I've called in paramedics so they can take care of him, no need to worry."

Yagyuu and Yanagi briskly walked past the nurse and into the room, leaving behind a miserable Sakuno.

Well why wouldn't she be miserable? In one swell swoop, she had taken away one of the tennis regulars.

Ohhh, Tezuka and the rest of the regulars were going to be so, so mad.

Sakuno bit her lip.

* * *

Because she was half an hour late, Sakuno ran as fast as she could towards the tennis courts.

"I'm so sorry I'm late!"

She bowed, hoping her captain would forgive her recklessness. It couldn't really be helped and she did tell her captain two weeks ago she would be late to practice every day because of some personal commitment.

But the captain somehow discovered the personal commitment was helping Niou with minute, and sometimes enormous, tasks.

Ever since that horrible day two weeks ago, she apologized numerous times to him and offered to do whatever he wanted. He took her up on the offer since he had a hectic schedule and a useless leg.

Today, her task was to hand in an assignment to his Science teacher, whose office was in the next building. Afterwards she helped him towards the tennis courts with his really heavy schoolbag.

She heard a sigh.

"Sakuno-chan, I realize it's a usual for you to be late but half an hour? This is getting ridiculous." Mieno said. The third year student crossed her arms and tapped her foot in a timely manner, probably thinking of a well fit punishment for her.

Honestly, anything would be fine. Mieno was a very lenient captain. If another was in her position, Sakuno was sure her spot as a regular would've been taken away.

"Do you really have to do so much for Niou-kun? He's only got a sprained ankle. And it's not even that bad."

Sakuno rose quickly, hurting her lower back. She winced and rubbed the aching spot.

"Ouch...no, Niou-san has a really bad fracture and he won't be able to play tennis for a very long time! It's all my fault and I need to do something to make up for it."

Sakuno was so deep in thought that she didn't notice Mieno's ludicrous appearance.

"Fractured? What?"

"Yes! He had to go to the hospital two weeks ago since it was so bad...um, are you okay, captain?"

Mieno had a strange look on her face, as if what she was hearing was something stupid. She didn't see how a serious injury was considered stupid...but maybe the seniors had a different mindset on everything.

"Y-yeah, I'm fine. Go run some laps before starting practice. I want you to clean up the courts after practice."

This seemed fair and she agreed without hesitation. Sakuno quickly went towards the change room, missing Mieno reaching for her mobile (which she kept in handy in case of emergency).

After changing into clean clothes, she quickly texted Niou to say she would be late. Sakuno had come up with the idea of walking to the bus stop together after she found out they took the same bus. His aunt's house wasn't too far from her own house.

Hopefully it wouldn't take her too long to clean.

* * *

"Tezuka's going to get you for this one day, Masaharu."

Yagyuu commented once he spotted Ryuzaki walking towards their courts. As usual, Niou didn't reply. Instead he walked over towards his bag, put away his racquet and reached for the crutches from behind his tennis bag.

After drinking from his water bottle, the gentleman glanced over his shoulder just in time to see Tezuka throw a glare in Niou's direction. The captain did try saying something to Ryuzaki once about Niou lying about his leg but she refused to listen to him – she was quite the stubborn one.

And every time Tezuka attempted to punish Niou or bring the situation to light, the Trickster _always_ managed to find a way out. Niou's incredible acting skills put everyone else at disadvantage.

Yagyuu kind of felt sorry for the girl. Ryuzaki was truly apologetic about the 'fracture' and Niou was taking full advantage of her gentle nature. He didn't care if she had tennis practice – from what they all knew, she had managed to become a regular – or if she had extra lessons during the day. If he wanted her to do something, Niou expected her to fall at his side immediately. Sadly enough, Ryuzaki complied, not bothering to rebel against his wishes.

Yagyuu sighed and walked away to Court D. Sometimes, Niou could be a monster.

"Niou."

Tezuka didn't acknowledge Yagyuu as he passed by. His mind was occupied with his teammate's notable behaviour. His lies to Ryuzaki weren't acceptable.

"What?"

The blue haired teen turned his attention away from a drill Yanagi had prepared for Fuji.

Tezuka stopped right in front of him and stared at him. Niou wasn't a stranger to staring contests, seeing as how he had an annoying little brother, and held the captain's gaze.

"Stop what you're doing."

"When the time is right, Captain."

Niou smirked and walked away on his crutches to meet her. Tezuka had dismissed everyone a long time ago but Yanagi, Fuji, and Yagyuu wanted to stay behind. Niou didn't have the same respect for Tezuka as he did for Yukimura and because of it, he found it hard to follow orders from Tezuka time to time. Telling Ryuzaki the truth would be a perfect example.

He didn't feel like carrying his bag after the hellish training Yanagi put them through so he decided to wait for her. She was quite convenient, a perfect errand girl. If he asked for something, she gave it to him without question. Really gullible, that one was.

In addition to a great errand girl, Ryuzaki Sakuno could be good company – but he would never tell her so. Her views on life or anything else greatly differed from his. The only thing that they had in common was tennis. Strangely enough, they didn't talk about it much. And one of the traits he greatly appreciated was the lack of squealing she did whenever a regular approached her compared to other girls.

"Ah, Niou-senpai." She bowed then jogged inside the courts to get his bag. They agreed that putting it in the men's change room would be awkward for her.

"Um, I think you have a message, senpai." As she neared him, he could hear the long vibration of his mobile.

"Check." He started to move towards the gate of the school and she followed.

"...it's from captain Mieno." He gave her a 'read it' glance.

"Um...she's saying to stop being a jack- um, stop being a jerk and tell her the truth." She looked at him with curiosity and he told her to delete it. She did as told, put it in the back of her mind and asked how his day was.

As the two made their way to the bus stop, they managed to touch various topics, from casual to philosophical. It was a typical pattern between them. Today's topic was justice. He argued that no such thing existed while she said the opposite.

"I don't believe in an eye for an eye. It's hypocritical and doesn't break the cycle." She said with a frown and adjusted his bag. It was a habit of hers to fiddle around with objects when she became nervous or more emotional than usual.

"If you don't kill the criminal who killed someone just for thrills, he's just gonna get out in a few years, maybe less if he's good, then he'll go kill someone else."

"But that...that's not so different from us." Sakuno asked, unsure if she was being articulate. "Perhaps this individual kills innocents but what if he killed other criminals?"

"Then he's not wrong. Let them kill each other off."

"That doesn't seem right. The law shouldn't be biased but objective – justice is blind."

"That is an idealistic way of thinking and the cops wouldn't care if these losers offed themselves."

She looked at him in surprise. "That's not true."

"Yeah, it is."

Sakuno didn't bother countering his opinion; there wasn't any point in it. Niou could be so opinionated and it wouldn't lead to a happy end to the day.

* * *

Mieno was so close to pulling her own hair out. Sakuno was not accepting logic.

Numerous times she had told her underclassman that Niou was not seriously injured. She also heard that Tezuka, team captain of the other tennis team, had attempted to reason with her as well. Mieno wasn't sure what was going through the girl's mind.

Niou must have left a really good impression on her if she refused to listen to both Tezuka and herself.

Right now, instead of using Saturday afternoon to catch up on training, she was helping Niou run errands. Mieno told her it would be really inconsiderate of Niou's family to send him to do errands _if_ he had a busted leg. Sakuno argued that it was personal errands and that Niou didn't want to be a burden on his aunt.

And the worst part about all of this was that they had a tournament in less than a week and Sakuno hadn't been able to participate in the special training for the regulars. It was really frustrating.

Mieno collapsed on her bed, thinking.

She had seen how classmate Niou treated the first year and she didn't like it. She knew Sakuno didn't have enough stamina or spirit to take care of someone else to that extent.

Why would she even go that far? It wasn't as though Niou was a friend or a boyfriend of hers.

Mieno blinked, her mind suddenly reeling in a different thought. Sakuno...wouldn't have a crush on Niou, would she?

Nah, that couldn't happen. Niou and Sakuno were way too different from one another. She had a better head than that on her shoulders.

But one thing was for certain. If Sakuno wasn't prepared for the regional tournament or collapsed because of exhaustion, Mieno would have Niou's head.

* * *

"SAKUNO!"

Sakuno heart skipped a beat. She placed a hand over her heart and turned her eyes away from the classroom window. Next to her desk stood a slightly annoyed Tomoka.

"Y-you almost gave me a heart attack, Tomo-chan!"

"I had to get your attention somehow." Tomoka rolled her eyes and pulled over a chair to sit on.

"So...who are you looking at?"

Looking at? Sakuno hadn't realized she was actually looking at someone. A light blush coloured her cheeks; her gaze had been on Niou, who was sitting outside and eating lunch with his friends.

Tomoka frowned and looked outside. Her jaw dropped.

"Please don't tell me it was Niou-senpai!" She yelled, causing Sakuno to quickly reach over and put a hand over her mouth. Tomoka pulled away and looked at her in disbelief.

"Oh my g-"

"You're overacting, Tomo-chan! It's not like I l-like him or anything." Sakuno cut in feebly. Tomoka just stared at her. Neither of them spoke, which made the pigtailed really, really uncomfortable.

"...Sakuno, I am concerned. You cannot like Niou-senpai because it will equal to emotional - and maybe physical – turmoil." Tomoka said this so slowly and so calmly that it shocked Sakuno. This was not a normal for her best friend, especially using words like, 'turmoil'. She didn't know Tomoka knew the meaning of it...

"Like I said before, Tomo-chan, you're overacting. I...don't like Niou-senpai. I'm only helping him with things until his leg is healed..." Her tone came out more weak than she thought it would.

"By becoming his slave? Sakuno! Doing something once or twice would've been good enough but this is so stupid! You're doing something for him every day! Wait, not something, somethings! He's lying to you! Did it ever occur to you that knocking over someone of his size or structure or whatever and causing a broken leg would require a lot of strength, something that you don't have?! It's all physics!"

Tomok's speech attracted the attention of the entire class towards them. Many people agreed with the girl and some others just commented on Niou's tennis skills or his good looks.

Sakuno didn't really know what to say since what Tomoka said had passed through her mind a few times before. Niou was a very well built student and probably weighed twice what she did. Maybe he was spaced out or something otherwise he wouldn't have fallen down the stairs so easily.

It was also true that she was doing much more than what was needed to be done. But she didn't feel as though it was a burden at all. In fact, she had come to enjoy Niou's company even though he could be a little disagreeable at times. That was just who he was.

Wait...when did she start enjoying the time she spent with him?

* * *

_Tok. Tok. ._

Niou, who was on his way to the courts for the usual practice, stopped walking and listened to his surroundings. The sound of a tennis ball hitting a racquet was too familiar to him but what intrigued him was the mumblings of the person pounding the ball against the wall. Quietly, he followed the sound, knowing all too well who was practicing.

He smirked when finding Ryuzaki continuously hitting the ball. Five minutes passed then ten then fifteen. She kept hitting the ball in the same place and from time to time, she would say something to herself.

"Harder and higher..."

She was almost completely out of breath and Niou wondered how long she had been behind the school. Whatever, it didn't matter. He turned and continued to the courts, not caring very much if he was late.

As soon as he got there, Tezuka punished him for being late by making him run thirty laps, not caring about his injury, and assigning him to clean the courts. The first years were relieved. About two hours later, the last player left, allowing Niou the freedom to clean however he liked.

Cleaning wasn't something he was particularly fond of but he didn't care today. For some reason, Niou hadn't been able to concentrate fully on practice which probably agitated the captain more. Whistling a familiar theme song to some show, he started picking up the tennis balls and tossing them into baskets.

When he was about half way finished, a voice called to him.

"Ah, Niou-senpai, are you the only one here?"

"Clearly." He looked over his shoulder and noted a dull red colouring on her cheeks.

"Oh...would you like some help?" She really was predictable but there was something off about her question or rather, the way she asked it. It didn't seem as peppy or insistent as it normally was.

"Sure."

The two worked in silence for about half an hour. Niou was a perfectionist in that sense – after he cleaned, there wouldn't be a speck of dust lying around.

Ryuzaki went to put the tennis balls away and Niou walked to his bags, ready to go home and just relax for an hour or so. Their tournament was coming up in about two weeks so he needed to practice more than the others to make up for the time he had missed.

As he shuffled thorough his papers in his bag, he noticed Ryuzaki walking towards him in a slow and awkward manner. Clearly something was not right; probably had something to do with her friends or something. He did not expect her knees to weaken.

Niou reached her before she completely collapsed on the ground.

* * *

He was forbidden to play from the Regional Tournament. The mental stress he caused Ryuzaki was unbelievable, said Tezuka and Mieno.

Niou argued that she wasn't so dumb as to not notice he had healed ninety percent already. The two captains wouldn't hear of it.

Now Niou spent his days practicing until night fell upon the school grounds or at home with the feelings of boredom and anger filling his entire being. The intention was never to hurt the girl in this manner, just have her do favours for him. It was easier for him and allowed him chances to relax.

Sometimes she'd say hi to him in the hallways but he ignored her every time. He didn't bother to look over his shoulder every time he passed her by or acknowledge her in any way. Her forgiving nature really pissed him off.

Even if she wasn't attracted to his physical appearance like the others, she was still like the other girls of this damned school. Even if he acted in an atrocious manner, he would be forgiven because he was Niou Masaharu, one of the best looking teenagers in the school district.

Pathetic.

Niou didn't want anything to do with the common girl anymore. He thought maybe she was different, that's why he allowed her near. But she wasn't, she was the same. And there she was.

Niou stopped walking and watched her talk with her friends. It seemed as though she had gone back to normal – she was smiling and blushing as usual. He didn't take notice of his eyes narrowing when a second year male approached the group of girls.

The other girls giggled then left Ryuzaki with him. Niou recognized him as someone from the tennis club – he was a decent player. Niou's frown deepened when Ryuzaki blushed and lowered her head.

So, it was a confession. How quickly she moved on. He scoffed; it was smart to have kept her away after she started to attend school regularly.

From this day forth, the push over known as Ryuzaki Sakuno didn't exist for him anymore.


End file.
